Literacy skills are usually divided into five levels. These levels roughly correspond to grades 1-9. The following skills are typical of each level. Please Note: these descriptions are provided for information only. Any assessment of a client's literacy skills should be done by a literacy practitioner.

Level 1
Can read very simple text that is familiar and uses short simple words. Can write name, address and a short simple sentence. Can read numbers under 100 and add and subtract single digits.

Level 2
Can read short, uncomplicated familiar texts. Can write several sentences or a short paragraph. Can add, subtract, multiply and divide and use money.

Level 3
Can read a variety of texts that are more complex in content and form. Can write several good paragraphs for a variety of purposes. Can add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers and decimals and has some understanding of fractions.

Level 4
Can use a variety of reading strategies to understand and interpret texts that are complex in content and form. Can write for a variety of purposes using well developed paragraphs, appropriate style and more complex grammar. Can add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions and integers and perform simple calculations with ratio, exponents and square roots.

Level 5
Can use a wide range of appropriate and efficient strategies to analyze, synthesize and draw conclusions about information and ideas in texts that are complex in form and content. Can write for a variety of purposes using a variety of complex forms and organizational approaches, appropriate style, creativity and logic. Can perform a variety of computations using fractions, decimals, integers, percents, exponents and square roots; creates and solves algebraic equations.

Based on The Level Descriptions Manual, Ontario Literacy Coalition, 1999/2000.